


I Didn't Know It Would Be This Long

by Twihard3746



Series: Different Choices: Disney [6]
Category: The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twihard3746/pseuds/Twihard3746
Summary: What if Ariel had chosen to tell Melody the truth about herself when Melody found the locket? How would the rest of the movie play out?
Relationships: Ariel/Eric (Disney)
Series: Different Choices: Disney [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/754320
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	I Didn't Know It Would Be This Long

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Little Mermaid or The Little Mermaid 2. Disney does.

“Until Morgana is found. Melody can’t go in the sea…and neither can I.”

The promise she made twelve years ago echoed in Ariel’s head as she took a moment to stand in the ocean. When she had made that promise, she had never expected it to take this long to find Morgana. Maybe it was time she told Melody the truth. Yes. It was time. She would speak to Eric tonight at the party before they both sat down with Melody, probably tomorrow, and told her the truth. 

“Mother. What are you doing?” Melody’s voice interrupted her musings. Ariel panicked. 

“Uh. Nothing. I’ll be right up,” she called as she moved out of the water and headed into the castle. 

Time Skip

Melody held something in her hands as Ariel tried to comfort her. Ariel could tell she was trying to hold back tears as she called herself a princess of disaster and laid down on her bed. Ariel took a moment to blow her hair away from her face, trying to figure out what to say in order to help her daughter feel better. As she spoke to Melody about how hard it is to be a teenager, her daughter continued to play with the item she held in her hands, wiping the dirt off it to reveal the necklace her father had given to Melody the day he met her all those years ago. She watched as Melody wondered why the locket had her name on it and opened it up to reveal Atlantica, Ariel felt a pang of longing in her heart as she looked at her childhood home. 

“It’s Atlantica. With merpeople and everything. Mother, you always said it was just an old fish tale,” Melody spoke. Ariel reached out and took the locket from her closing it. Her first instinct was to ask Melody where she got it and then yell at her for disobeying her, but she knew it would get her nowhere, especially if her daughter was as vulnerable as she appeared to be at the moment. 

Instead, Ariel sighed, thankful that she had discussed telling Melody the truth with Eric in the few minutes they had before the party had become a disaster. 

“Go get your father. There’s something that we need to tell you,” Ariel said, sitting back down on Melody’s bed. Melody gave her a weird look but went to find her father. Ariel took the few moments that she had to collect herself and prepare for her daughter’s reaction. It wasn’t long before Melody returned with Eric. 

“It’s time,” He asked as he entered the room. Ariel could only nod. 

“Time for what?” Melody asked as she joined her mother on the bed. Eric moved the chair from Melody’s vanity and sat down near the bed. 

“Time for you to learn the truth about where I came from and why I don’t want you in the ocean,” Ariel said. Melody’s eyes widened. She had never been given a reason that she couldn’t go in the ocean, she had always just assumed her mother hated it, but it seemed that there was more to it than that. 

Ariel opened the locket once again and Eric’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of it. 

“Atlantica is a beautiful place. Filled with all types of sea creatures. Including mermaids. My father is King Triton, the ruler of the merpeople,” Ariel explained. 

“Wait. But if he’s a merman then how…” Melody questioned. Ariel smiled softly. 

“That is a story for another day, but the short version is, I wasn’t always human. After a lot of trouble, he eventually decided to turn me human so I could be with your father,” Ariel smiled as she looked at Eric. Melody nodded thoughtfully. 

“A few years passed, and you were born, and we planned a big celebration out on a boat with all of our friends and family from the land and sea. It was there that your grandfather gave you this locket. He opened it and showed it to you, you were so intrigued, but just as he placed the necklace around your neck disaster struck. Morgana, a sea witch with a grudge, snatched you right out of your mother’s arms and demanded your grandfather’s Trident, the source of his magic, in exchange for not feeding you to her shark. Thanks to your mother’s quick thinking we were able to get you back safely, but Morgana escaped before we could catch her,” Eric told his daughter. Melody was silent. She had never expected this when her mother told her that they needed to talk.

“My father tried looking for, and is still trying, but with no success, I promised myself that neither you nor I could go near the sea until she was found. I never expected it to take twelve years and she still hasn’t shown up,” Ariel finished. Melody blinked. 

“Is there any way that we can help to find her? Finally, put an end to all of this?” Melody asked. Ariel shook her head. 

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how I would get a message to my father.” She said. 

“Maybe I can help with that,” a voice spoke up from Melody’s vanity. 

“Sebastian!?” Ariel and Melody exclaimed before looking at each other with a questioning gaze. 

“How do you know Sebastian?” Ariel asked her daughter. Melody’s gaze turned sheepish. 

“I met him when I was swimming outside the wall…” Melody smiled sheepishly. “How do you know him?” She asked. Ariel smiled softly. 

“I’ve known him almost all my life. He helped watch over me and my sisters when we were younger and then my father asked him to watch over me when he was concerned about me being interested in the human world when I was sixteen,” Ariel explained. “However, that does not explain what he is doing here,” she said turning her gaze on Sebastian. 

“Your father asked me to watch over Melody, I watched over her from afar until I saw her getting into the ocean when I decided that it might be a better idea to actually speak with her,” Sebastian said. “But that’s not the point, I can get a message to your father. What would you like him to know?”

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: I was originally thinking this was going to be a one-shot but now I’m thinking I might write an additional chapter.


End file.
